India assured Iran that it would make all payments due to it on account of oil imports as soon as possible, Finance Minister of India Pranab Mukherjee said during a meeting here with Iran's Minister for Economic Affairs and Finance Seyyed Shamseddin Husseini, New Delhi reported.
"New Delhi is working out an arrangement with the Germany's central bank, Deutche Bundesbank (DBB), to expedite the payments," Mukherjee told.
He urged his Iranian counterpart to work out a mechanism through which timely payment can be made in future by removing the necessary bottlenecks.
Mukherjee said India was committed to implement the decisions taken in the 16th session of joint commission of both the countries held in Delhi last July.
Iran 's Economy and Finance Minister Shamsaddin Husseini started an official visit to India on February 24.
Trade turnover between Iran and India is $14 billion. Earlier, the Central Bank of India announced that it will not pay for imports of Iranian crude oil and this matter has caused problems in the oil trade between the two countries. Prior to that, Iran was receiving money for the oil sold in India through Asia Clearing Union (ACU), a regional payment arrangement. Washington had been pressuring Delhi to shut down this route. The ACU was crucial to allowing Indian companies to deal with Iran.
India and Iran have begun discussions in Mumbai on December 31, 2010 to put in place a new process for Indian oil companies to make payments for the Iranian crude oil.
India buys 426,000 barrels of oil per day from Iran. Iran states about uncertainty in the issue of through what mechanism it will be getting paid for the oil sold in India, as well as yhat India does not repay the resulting debt to Iran for the purchase of oil at a rate of $ 1 billion.